Knitting in the Shadowstag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-2987182016-11-03T18:25:30-05:00Ramblings about knitting, life, exploits, and other things.TypePadOn Newark Aiport, and why I'll not go there voluntarily againtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c3eb053ef01b8d235bec8970c2016-11-03T18:25:30-05:002016-11-04T00:04:18-05:00This week, I'm traveling to visit my father, whose health is not the best. Most of the time, I seem to fly through JFK airport, but for some reason, my route flew me through Newark Airport, where I had an airline change. I will pay close attention so that this never happens again. The trip started pretty well. I have paid to get Global Entry and TSA Pre status, since this year seems to be a year for traveling, including internationally, but for some reason, that keeps getting omitted from my boarding passes. That means that I keep having to...ShadowDancer

This week, I'm traveling to visit my father, whose health is not the best. Most of the time, I seem to fly through JFK airport, but for some reason, my route flew me through Newark Airport, where I had an airline change. I will pay close attention so that this never happens again.

The trip started pretty well. I have paid to get Global Entry and TSA Pre status, since this year seems to be a year for traveling, including internationally, but for some reason, that keeps getting omitted from my boarding passes. That means that I keep having to get my boarding passes AT the airport, so that they can put the number in manually. I care only because TSA Pre means things like not having to take your laptop out of the case, and not having to shed your shoes.... So, I had it fixed at my home airport -- but that only went on my American Airlines tickets.NOT my United boarding pass. Why?who TF knows.

I didn't even notice that omission until I got to Newark, where I would be switching airlines. I figured it wouldn't be an issue anyway, since I was already inside security....

but no ...

My plane landed at Gate A34, and I noticed with some glee that my outgoing gate was A27. I mean, really, same concourse number? only 7 digits apart? They had to be like a two minute walk! There'd be time to get food, relax ...

But wait... 34 was in a sort of circle. It started at 30, but there were no gate numbers lower than that. There were no signs telling you how to get to gates lower than A30 .. and the hallway led only to the way OUT of the secure part of the airport. I finally asked a security fellow who was helping a woman in a wheel chair. Lovely fellow. Very kind. Anyway, he said he'd show me the way. I followed them along only to learn that I had to go OUT of security and back IN to get to Gate A27.

Remember, that boarding pass for my United flight didn't have the TSA pre-check information on it. It turns out that wouldn't have made a difference, because they had already closed the TSA Pre-Check line.

?? The line was pretty full, but evidently no matter how many more flights might be going out, they close the line at some magic time window. Grrrrr.

So, anyway, since I had just gotten off of a plane, I had water in my water bottle.You know, to avoid the dehydration that flying creates.That water bottle, in my bag, caused them to have to do a closer check on the bag.But because there were a lot of people there who didn’t speak English and were being escorted through by a TSA guy translating and such, they let that bag just sit for quite a while without telling me anything that was going on. I had tucked my boarding pass is into that bag, so I didn't really know what time my flight was due to leave, and I had tucked my phone is in that bag to avoid the metal detector having fits, so I don’t know what time it is.

Guess who was freaking out a bit about missing a plane? Me.

I'm usually pretty calm about things in the airport Mostly, I don't freak out about much at all in airports unless my flight is so late that it causes me to miss another flight for which there are no alternatives that day. But this got me pretty tensed up...

I had to wait about 15 minutes for them to even LOOK at my bag, because one of the TSA people went somewhere.I heard them saying that who ever needs to have specific checks “will just have to wait”. As though this nonsense of requiring people to pass through security to change planes could not mean that close connections mean delays in security cause problems. But I guess those wouldn't be the problems of these particular TSA agents.

(interruption -- please note, this is not a rant against the TSA folks. Even though I truly believe that half of what goes on in these security checks is really security theater, designed to make people THINK that they're more secure, for the most part I've had only positive interactions with TSA agents. They've generally been courteous and respectful).

Eventually, someone actually got my bag, and took me over to the table where they look at whatever disturbed the person with the xray machine. As it turns out, I had my water bottle, with it's 5-6 ounces of water in it, at the top of my bag. At this point, even knowing that I had just been changing planes (I'd showed them both the boarding pass that got me to this airport and the one to get me out), they wouldn't let me just drink the water -- or pitch it, and then go forward. Nope... I had to go back out of security and come back through.

So I went back to the end of the line, chugged my water, and put all my stuff through a the xray machine a second time. This time, I also had to take my laptop out of its bag and run it separately because, I guess the guy had forgotten that I do have pre-clearance, even if that line was closed. Whatever. They let me through at last.

When I finally arrived at my gate, they were cleaning half of the seating area (okay, 3/4). The floor was wet, half was cordoned off, and they were running loud machines. These machines a) were headache inducingly loud, b) meant that talking to your seat mate in the remainder of the waiting area was a real challenge, c) made making phone calls impossible, and d) worst of all, meant you couldn't HEAR the announcements about flights that were boarding.

Luckily, I found a seat where I could actually see the doorway to the gangway associated with my flight. I got in line to go down it because I saw the line building and the people passing through.

In short, I did not enjoy my time there.

Returning to the World -- Unpacking Phase ntag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c3eb053ef01b7c856321e970b2016-05-08T15:21:38-05:002016-05-08T15:21:38-05:00So much has happened since I last posted! I will give a VERY brief summary, and then get to the point of today's post. I moved, last June, from the lovely house with the lovely pond and gazebo etc. I miss the yard. I don't miss much else. .... well.... okay, I miss the folding space in the laundry room and the dog door. My career as a massage therapist has really gotten under way. I love love love my job. My marriage finally gave up the ghost. I will not elaborate AT ALL. But I may ever make comments...ShadowDancer

So much has happened since I last posted! I will give a VERY brief summary, and then get to the point of today's post.

I moved, last June, from the lovely house with the lovely pond and gazebo etc. I miss the yard.

I don't miss much else. .... well.... okay, I miss the folding space in the laundry room and the dog door.

My career as a massage therapist has really gotten under way. I love love love my job.

My marriage finally gave up the ghost. I will not elaborate AT ALL. But I may ever make comments about being divorced.

So that's done. On with the point.

As I mentioned above, I moved.

Then we had a bit of a dog issue -- she's not fond of the new back yard, and that led to an issue with the carpet in the room she somehow felt was a better place to pee than the back yard.

That led to new carpet (and adventure in itself when the installers brought the wrong carpet).

(The carpet square is the color I ordered. The carpet it's resting on is the carpet they brought)

Finally, the carpet is down, and the bookshelves are back in the room staring me in the face, waiting for the boxes of books to march in from the garage...

I looked at these for weeks, with no motivation to fix the blank emptiness

Until I realized that the reason I didn't want to put books in was that I didn't want the bookcases the way they were. So, Friday night, I got all stubborn and moved them.

Then I unpacked the children's books (that lovely collection that includes books my mother read when she was young, and books I read when I was young, and, of course, books that Kat and Bookworm read when they were young.)

Today, I sucked it up and hauled a dozen boxes in from the garage, and started unpacking books. (What? only a dozen boxes you say? never fear -- the book cases in the other rooms are already full. I've not turned into someone else.)

One might think this would be easy ... grab book, put book on shelf. But no.

You do remember who I am, don't you? I can't do things the easy way. I have to make them just a tad more challenging. I need to divide the books by category. And then by size, so that I can allocate shelf space more efficiently. And then, of course, by author's last name.

So much for the nice clear empty floor...

and yes, those are stacks of books on the piano bench..

When "Just One More Row" is a Bad Ideatag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c3eb053ef01bb0889d46e970d2015-11-01T12:24:54-06:002015-11-01T12:24:54-06:00We've all used it. We've all delayed getting up from our comfy couches and chairs to run errands, or fix dinner, or go to bed saying "just one more row". We've all finished things faster because we've said "just one more row" even when one more row was 375 stitches. But today, I'm tinking. I'm tinking because I over used "just one more row". When you're staying up later than you meant to because that move is longer than you thought it would be, and you're sipping a little wine, and knitting, and watching.... you need to count carefully. So...ShadowDancer

We've all used it. We've all delayed getting up from our comfy couches and chairs to run errands, or fix dinner, or go to bed saying "just one more row".

We've all finished things faster because we've said "just one more row" even when one more row was 375 stitches.

But today, I'm tinking. I'm tinking because I over used "just one more row".

When you're staying up later than you meant to because that move is longer than you thought it would be, and you're sipping a little wine, and knitting, and watching.... you need to count carefully. So when The Artist lured me into watching the Lord of the Rings starting at ten pm, and I was sitting all cozy on my couch, knitting my hat, sipping my zinfandel and watching -- I counted carefully.

Sometimes not carefully enough, but I caught things fairly quickly because I'd count carefully several times a round. After all, I was knitting with two colors in patterns like 4A, 3B, 3A, 2B... etc.

But then, the movie ended.

So I was not distracted by pretty elves. I was just knitting. Just one more row.

and I wasn't counting diligently despite that glass of Zinfandel and the late hour.

After 11 pm, Just One More Row is a Bad Idea.

you will not see a picture of this section today -- because I'm tinking again. Clearly, I can't count to 4.

Back at the Drawing Boardtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c3eb053ef01bb08894d73970d2015-10-31T00:47:26-05:002015-10-31T01:00:07-05:00First off, if anyone is still listening, thanks! I know I've been oddly silent for quite a while. Before I get started on why I finally fired my blogwriting skills back up, I feel like I owe at least a minor explanation. The short answer is, life here in ShadowLand has been in a state of turmoil for about 16 months or so. Everyone in the house has had his or her share of drama and challenges. And in June of this year, we moved -- the most challenge-ridden move I've heard about in a while. The fun didn't stop...ShadowDancer

First off, if anyone is still listening, thanks!

I know I've been oddly silent for quite a while. Before I get started on why I finally fired my blogwriting skills back up, I feel like I owe at least a minor explanation.

The short answer is, life here in ShadowLand has been in a state of turmoil for about 16 months or so.

Everyone in the house has had his or her share of drama and challenges. And in June of this year, we moved -- the most challenge-ridden move I've heard about in a while. The fun didn't stop there, and we're still under the lash. And I just don't like blogging about the unpleasant stuff until I can find the humor in it. And I don't like blogging about personal stuff that isn't MY stuff. So, I didn't blog.

I also didn't seem to be knitting much. And that really wasn't because all my knitting was packed (are you nuts? of course it wasn't ALL packed).

Back to the point. Finally, whatever block there was that was impeding my knitting and designing fu seems to have given up.

I now have all sorts of things on the needles. The ever-present socks (which spend a lot of time hiding from me); a cardigan for me, which is almost done, (but will take forever to finish because I decided that a sewn hem was the way to bind off, and I can't do that for long w/o going nuts); a pair of fingerless mitss for a friend whose hands get cold; and (now that the cardigan sleeves have freed up my matching 16" circs) A Weasely sweater for Kitty -- who shall be known as The Artist from now on (yep. It's a nice baggy 44" of sweater, miraculously wedged onto a 16" circular needle), and -- the subject of this post: a hat I'm designing for a dear friend who suffers from Sjogren's Syndrome. Sjogren's attacks in various unfriendly ways -- one of which includes making your scalp so sensitive that a slight breeze moving the hair on your head becomes painful. Dear Friend finally gave up and shaved her head. But Winter is Coming. Clearly, hats needed to be made.

I thought I was designing one thing, but discovered that I'm designing a tam or a beret with a cabled band and colorwork in the rest of the hat (and likely more cables, but we're not there yet.

This is good. What's not good is discovering two rows later that you made several errors in the knitting. I thought I'd found one about 1/3 of the way back-- the pattern is 6 stitches in the main color, and 4 stitches in the contrast, but right there, there are seven stitches in the main color. So, I started tinking back the row and a half .. but wait -- there... there are only four stitches in the main color here, tink further grumbling "What WAS I doing.'

I tink some more, and clear the silly four stitch run -- but something is still off.

Oh, duh. I actually had made a mistake in the fourth stitch in the round! So the whole thing was thrown off from the get go.

Back I tink some more.

This is moderately sane behavior -- well for a knitter anyway.

What isn't sane is that I found the error just before putting the knitting down to go to bed. Rather than putting the knitting down, I stayed up to fix it. And then, feeling oddly uncomfortable with being further behind than I was before I found the error, felt compelled to at least re-knit the offending round (190 sts worth).

Why? why do we knitters do this? Aren't we more prone to errors as the clock ticks past today into tomorrow? Why can't we just rest on having found the error, and come back fresh in the morning? Or at least rest on having gotten back to where things were right? Doesn't it occur to us that trying to get back to at least where we were when we started going backwards might just put in more errors to find in the morning?

I guess we have to admit -- stubbornness has just got to be one of the character traits that makes up a knitter. Or at least tenacity.

I'll be going to bed soon, really I will. Just let me finish these two rounds.....

Whose Plan Was This Anyway?tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c3eb053ef01bb08079826970d2015-03-15T23:48:19-05:002015-03-15T23:48:19-05:00A couple of weeks ago, I decided to knit some socks. A familiar thing to do, for a knitter. But somewhere along the way, I started pondering the fact that 90% of the time I now wear shoes like these: That means that knitting yummy hand knit socks is kind of self defeating ... either I can't wear my shoes, or I can't wear my socks. And so I got it into my head to knit socks with toes in them. (Yes, I know I can buy them. I actually have several pair. But none are nice and cozy warm....ShadowDancer

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to knit some socks.

A familiar thing to do, for a knitter. But somewhere along the way, I started pondering the fact that 90% of the time I now wear shoes like these:

That means that knitting yummy hand knit socks is kind of self defeating ... either I can't wear my shoes, or I can't wear my socks. And so I got it into my head to knit socks with toes in them. (Yes, I know I can buy them. I actually have several pair. But none are nice and cozy warm. None are pretty.

I can usually rely upon my knit-night buddies to stop me from truly crazy plans. They failed me this time.

Luckily, a sock class with Anna Zilboorg more than a few years ago.taught me a new cast on for toes. It involved handling four or five dpns with very few stitches on the needles, and felt a lot like finger wrestling a porcupine. Knitting toes into socks is much like that.

It seemed like such a good idea at the time.And yet,

Alas, Now that I've set this challenge for myself, I seem to have put myself in that familiar place where I refuse to back down.

I blame my knit night buds for not stopping me when I started, but I'd likely blame them again for getting me to give up.

I'll get them back though. I've written the pattern for them, and I'll make one of them test it for me.

Burbling up from the Depthstag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c3eb053ef01b8d0c4e32b970c2015-01-20T20:29:05-06:002015-01-20T20:29:05-06:00I have this unnerving feeling that I've not posted in like ... I don't know ... a year? But, I'm back for awhile. I will not explain, there is too much. I will sum up. I've started my massage business. Like any young business, it has up times and down times. In the process I've added a certification in Zero Balancing, and am gearing up to take the certification steps for CranioSacral Techniques. My daughters have graduated high school, started college, encountered alarming challenges that will so not be shared here, paused for a semester, and have now returned. In...ShadowDancer

I have this unnerving feeling that I've not posted in like ... I don't know ... a year?

But, I'm back for awhile.

I will not explain, there is too much. I will sum up.

I've started my massage business. Like any young business, it has up times and down times. In the process I've added a certification in Zero Balancing, and am gearing up to take the certification steps for CranioSacral Techniques.

My daughters have graduated high school, started college, encountered alarming challenges that will so not be shared here, paused for a semester, and have now returned.

In 2014, I spent a weekend in Seattle,

a week on the east coast:

and a week on the West Coast

In that order.

There was also a bit of dabbling in Chicago and Indiana ...

But the exciting (?) news is that I've just put my house up for sale.

Gleep.

I got to digging around the old computer looking for some pretty pictures of the exterior when the pond is gorgeous -- I know I've posted many here over the years. I can't find ANY on the machine! So, I returned to the blog, hunted down my own images, re-saved them to the computer from which I originally uploaded them, and finally got them printed out. Now folks will have a chance to see how lovely it all really is.

My house is immaculate. No, seriously. There is NOTHING on my kitchen counter.

I'm pretty sure that the only people who have seen it this way are those who live here, the photographer, and ... oh... the folks who sold the house to us 13 1/2 years ago.

Now begins the scary part. I was sure I was ready for this right up until I got the first phone call from a realtor wanting to show the house.

Suddenly, I love my house! whose plan was this?? And HOW am I going to pack the YARN??? (or the books?)

The Swatch Reporttag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c3eb053ef01a3fcb29115970b2014-02-04T11:17:00-06:002014-02-04T11:17:00-06:00You may have noticed that I'd confessed to having selected my needles for the Half-Circle Cardigan (hereinafter Rubies on the Half Circle) Project. It is true. You may recall that one knits a gauge swatch to make sure that the combination of yarn and needles that you're using produce a fabric that gets the number of stitches and the number of rows you need to have in an inch so that your garment will wind up the size you need it to be. If you have too many stitches in an inch, your fabric will be too narrow (likewise, too...ShadowDancer

You may have noticed that I'd confessed to having selected my needles for the Half-Circle Cardigan (hereinafter Rubies on the Half Circle) Project.

It is true.

You may recall that one knits a gauge swatch to make sure that the combination of yarn and needles that you're using produce a fabric that gets the number of stitches and the number of rows you need to have in an inch so that your garment will wind up the size you need it to be. If you have too many stitches in an inch, your fabric will be too narrow (likewise, too few stitches in an inch, and your fabric will be too narrow). If you have too many rows in an inch, your fabric will be too short. Typically, one focuses more on stitch gauge than row gauge. It's much easier to knit a few more rows than it is to suddenly widen your sweater.

After knitting several swatches, I chose size 6's because they gave me the row gauge called for in the pattern. What? Didn't I just say that STITCH gauge is more important? Well, typically, that's true. But this pattern, which is a) knit in rib, and thus more flexible in terms of "width" of the fabric than other fabrics; and b) knit side to side or in the round. When knitting side to side, knitting more rows makes something WIDER not longer.

In my experience, getting row gauge and stitch gauge spot on is almost impossible. Getting row gauge seems to be harder for me. I've no idea why.

So... now that I've decided the needles, let's check to see just how close we are to the STITCH gauge. I've soaked and dried my swatch, so I know that it won't play tricks on me when I launder the garment, so I'm ready to go.

With US Size 6 needles, I get 21 rows over 3 inches (yes, I cheated and didn't do the full four inches), which is - tada the 7 stitches per inch the pattern calls for. I'm thrilled. Also, I like the fabric. It has a nice drape, but is not floppy.

So now, with you by my side, live on the blog, I'll check the stitch gauge. I've got 16 stitches in three inches. This translates to 5.333 stitches to the inch. Glancing back at the pattern I see that she wants us to aim for 20 stitches over 4 inches, yielding 5 stitches to the inch.

Grumble.

Since I anticipated the possibility that soaking would change the gauge a bunch, I've also already knit several inches using size 7 needles. Lets check THAT shall we?

The first thing I notice is that the fabric here is a bit floppy. Floppy can make a lovely loose drape, and for some garments, it's just what you want. But this sweater looks like it ought to have some integrity to the fabric. I'm not hopeful about this swatch, but in the interests of completion, I'll measure the swatch.

Since stitch gauge is what sent us here, I'll measure that first: 15 stitches over three inches -- stitch gauge, spot on. BUT... alas, row gauge is not. It's now 19 rows in three inches (or 6.333 rows per inch).

So, my choice appears to be row gauge spot on, and stitch gauge off by 1/3 stitch per inch or stitch gauge spot on, and row gauge off by 2/3 stitch per inch.

I'm sticking with my earlier plan: Using the 6's, I get a nicer fabric, and my guage is off by less (and then on the stitch gauge, which is "less important" than the row gauge).

Now, the question remains: Will I be able to hold off until Friday -- and thus qualify this project for the Olympic Knitting Challenges? (cast on during opening ceremonies, bind of during or before closing ceremonies). Or will I yield to pressure (hah, like there's pressure) and cast on during Knit Night...

Needle Report - Darn Pretty Interchangeable Needlestag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c3eb053ef01a73d6d8d56970d2014-02-02T11:16:29-06:002014-02-02T11:16:29-06:00Having now re-established that I know the relationship between needle sizes and gauge, I've finished swatching. First off, let me say that achieving gauge with yarn that is toying with you is in excellent way to interview needles. Thanks to the Divine Though Blogless Elizabeth's unflagging generosity, I've got the opportunity to play with a whole set of the Darn Pretty Interchangeable Needles. Because I had that brain glitch, I wound up knitting with several needle sizes of them. This is more important than one might think, since a knitting needle's joy lies in a delicate combination of material, finish,...ShadowDancer

Having now re-established that I know the relationship between needle sizes and gauge, I've finished swatching.

First off, let me say that achieving gauge with yarn that is toying with you is in excellent way to interview needles. Thanks to the Divine Though Blogless Elizabeth's unflagging generosity, I've got the opportunity to play with a whole set of the Darn Pretty Interchangeable Needles. Because I had that brain glitch, I wound up knitting with several needle sizes of them. This is more important than one might think, since a knitting needle's joy lies in a delicate combination of material, finish, tip, size, warmth, flexibility, and (in the case of circulars, the all important join). That combination is subtly different as you go from one size to the other. Thus, when considering a set, it's REALLY worth it to try multiple sizes before committing!

I started my interview with the recommended (by the pattern) size 5's. Right off, I loved the join and the finish, and the warm subtle flexibility of the wood. The tip was pretty nice (not stellar, as I personally prefer sharp tips, but quite nice). I was even fonder of the 4's (I found this tip sharper, which is a clue that I missed about the tip/needle size behavior), but I was less enamored of the 6's, because the tip gets blunter and blunter as the needles get larger. (This is pretty standard - one doesn't really need a super sharp tip to pick up thicker yarns, but the 7's blunt tip would make me nuts if I were trying to knit cables or lace). For straight up knitting, I found them fine. More than fine.

The join is marvelous! Not only did I never once struggle with the join between the tip and the end of the cable, the join between the cable and the needle itself is bloody brilliant. THAT join spins ... which means that the inevitable twisting and winding that one does while knitting does not translate to the tip/needle join, and thus the tip never tries to come undone!

For me, the tips for this set may be a deal breaker (but they do come with lace tips). I like cables ... especially on worsted weight yarns, for which I'd be needing the 8's or so. I also like playing with the airier fabrics you get by knitting fine gauge yarn (like, oh, Koigu) with a larger needle (like, oh, the 6's I'll be using for this project). And I like lace knitting -- another place one uses needles that are larger than one might use for a "regular" fabric.

On Swatching -- in which I embarassed myselftag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c3eb053ef01a51160c9eb970c2014-01-31T23:42:19-06:002014-01-31T23:42:19-06:00So..... Swatching. That exercise in which you gather your chosen yarn, and the anticipated needles, and knit a big ol' square (or rectangle) so that you can figure out how many stitches and how many rows you're actually going to get when knitting. Very useful to prevent knitting sweaters the wrong size by accident. It goes like this: if you've got MORE stitches (or rows) in an inch than you're aiming for, you need a bigger needle. Likewise, if you've got FEWER stitches (or rows) in an inch than you're aiming for, you need a smaller needles. I reported having...ShadowDancer

So.....

Swatching.

That exercise in which you gather your chosen yarn, and the anticipated needles, and knit a big ol' square (or rectangle) so that you can figure out how many stitches and how many rows you're actually going to get when knitting. Very useful to prevent knitting sweaters the wrong size by accident.

It goes like this: if you've got MORE stitches (or rows) in an inch than you're aiming for, you need a bigger needle. Likewise, if you've got FEWER stitches (or rows) in an inch than you're aiming for, you need a smaller needles.

I reported having gotten 23 row in 3 inches (aiming for 28 rows in four inches). This means that I got 7.66666 rows to the inch when I was aiming for 7 rows to the inch. So, I got MORE rows in my inch than I wanted. According to that paragraph up there, that means I should have grabbed a BIGGER needle.

The question is: Will I have achieved the perfect gauge in time to use this as an Olympics Knit??

Hey.... it's a Knitting Post!!tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c3eb053ef01a5115f847c970c2014-01-30T16:08:04-06:002014-01-30T16:08:04-06:00Long, long ago, (seven years) The Divine Though Blogless Elizabeth and I were prowling around our LYS, and chanced upon a pattern that we thought was marvelous. We bought the pattern, and planned to knit the sweater together. Then we knit the Weekender Cardigan together. And we knit Irtfa'a together. And we've done various other things together. The pattern lurked in the closet, pouting. Then we went to Stitches (2 years ago), and decided to knit a sweater together again. We bought yarn! Alas, not quite enough, really, to do more than I nice Tee, but still. We were gonna...ShadowDancer

Long, long ago, (seven years) The Divine Though Blogless Elizabeth and I were prowling around our LYS, and chanced upon a pattern that we thought was marvelous. We bought the pattern, and planned to knit the sweater together.

Then we knit the Weekender Cardigan together. And we knit Irtfa'a together. And we've done various other things together. The pattern lurked in the closet, pouting.

Then we went to Stitches (2 years ago), and decided to knit a sweater together again. We bought yarn! Alas, not quite enough, really, to do more than I nice Tee, but still. We were gonna be all matchy matchy with the yarn, and knit a sweater. Over those two years, we've traded pattern ideas, and have yet to find THE answer.

We've also contemplated designing one... and there was life, and it hasn't happened yet.

Two months ago we decreed that we WOULD gosh darn it knit another sweater together. NEXT!

And there were the holidays. And there were emails. And we narrowed it down to one of three patterns or something with that twin yarn.

And lo, this week, we made a decision! We discovered that long lost pattern (The Half-Circle Cardigan by Kalani Craig, designed for Shibui Knits). We discovered that (gasp), we both actually had yarn IN OUR STASHES with which to make the sweater.

We are now swatching.

I chose the Koigu Premium Painters Pallette in Reds that I'd originally saved for the pattern.

However, I've ... ahem ... grown since I put the yarn aside. Also, I somehow missed the tiny detail that Koigu checks in at 175 yards per skein, while Shibui Sock checks in at 191 yards per skein. Thus, I'm pretty sure that I don't have enough of the primary color to finish this sweater as I want it (with longish sleeves, and so that it comes a bit lower on the hip than the original "top of hip" plan.

Luckily, I have a Koigu Drawer. I'd once planned to knit the Charlotte's Web Shawl, which wants one skein each of a swack of different colors of Koigu. I collected Koigu skeins -- mostly by the one (thus preventing me from using them up for socks -- whose plan was THAT?) So, I'm using two extra skeins whose colors match the accent colors in the red yarn ... we'll see how that plays out.

The plan? Have my needle size determined by next Tuesday's Knit Night.Anyone else want to play along? There's PLENTY of time to round up some yarn and the pattern! I'll even gleefully put up Guest Posts about YOUR progress on this sweater.

(and no, I'm not contemplating what sorts of changes I'd need to make it in a different gauge ... just because I have some yarn that wants to be one like this. No. really. No I'm not.)